- Diseases Prevention and Control Programs

- Sexual Health

- Blood-borne Viruses

- Primary Health Care

- Migrants' Health

I am an epidemiologist with interest in evidence-based diseases prevention and control programs. My research examines the effectiveness and acceptability of diseases prevention and control programs and strategies. I have worked for more than 12 years in the areas of primary health care delivery and diseases prevention and control programs management. I am a Curriculum Convenor for the MAE Program and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and have extensive experience in teaching and learning leadership in tertiary education in public health areas. My students are saying I am a great teacher and supervisor and help them learn. In December 2022 I received College of Health and Medicine Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in Education for Excellence in Supervision.

COVID-19 vaccines and Migrants:

Publications:

Summary of results of migrants’ information needs about COVID-19 vaccines survey.

“They said we're all in it together, but we were kind of separated”: Barriers to access, and suggestions for improving access to official information about COVID-19 vaccines for migrants in Australia.

“And a huge factor is …, the people around them”: Sources of information about COVID-19 vaccines among migrants in Australia.

Factors associated with COVID-19 booster vaccine willingness among migrants from the Eastern Mediterranean living in Australia: a cross-sectional study.

• Understanding information needs about COVID-19 vaccines and the vaccination program among migrants in Australia

• Barriers to and enablers of participating in the Bowel Cancer Screening (MPH, Honours, MPhil, PhD)
• Migrants and health system literacy. Bachelor, Honours, Masters and PhD / MPhil students

Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology, 2021-2022. Projects include: 1) Investigation of a COVID-19 outbreak at an Aged-Care Facility, 2) Estimating the test accuracy of wastewater surveillance for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infected people, 3) Interrupted time series segmented regression analysis for detecting waterborne disease outbreaks by syndromic surveillance, 4) Establishment of a syndromic surveillance of waterborne disease outbreaks, 5) COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among racial/ethnic minorities. Australian National University. (Primary Supervisor)

Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology, 2021. Projects include: 1) an outbreak investigation of a SARS-CoV-2 in hotel quarantine, 2) Implementation of an automated Salmonellosis Surveillance System in the ACT, 3) Air quality and respiratory syndrome-related hospital admissions in the ACT, 4) Assessment of Severity and Symptom Characteristics between SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Delta (B.1.617.2) Variant Infections in the ACT. Australian National University. (Associate supervisor)

Master of Philosophy in Applied Epidemiology, 2022. Projects include: 1) Two outbreaks of Salmonella linked to a kebab shop, 2) Analysis of notifiable disease data in the ACT, 2007-2021, 3) Evaluation of the ACT Adverse Events Following Immunisation Reporting System. Australian National University. (Primary Supervisor)

Master of Philosophy (Applied Epidemiology)

From Drug Resistance to Donuts: Applied Epidemiology in the Australian Capital Territory

Projects: 1) an outbreak of the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of SARS-CoV-2 in a high school setting, 2) a food-borne gastroenteritis outbreak associated with donuts from a single bakery; 3) an epidemiological investigation into factors associated with a willingness to receive a COVID-19 booster vaccine among migrants in Australia born in the World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean Region; 4) design of a surveillance system to add the multidrug-resistant organisms carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) as a notifiable condition in the ACT; 5) a descriptive and spatial analysis of hepatitis C notifications in the ACT over a ten-year period. (Primary Supervisor)

Health, Healing and Empowerment. Epidemiology for community policy makers

Projects: 1) investigation of an outbreak of COVID-19 in a predominantly culturally and linguistic diverse group, 2) Exposure to the Family Wellbeing program and associations with empowerment, health, family and cultural wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, 3) Evaluation of Yorgum 8 L’s Assessment Tool. Australian National University. (Primary Supervisor)

Applied Epidemiology of Communicable Diseases in Australia

An investigation of the first equine case of Hendra virus in the Hunter Valley region; investigation of a measles outbreak in fully vaccinated adults in HNELHD; an epidemiological study of measles-specific antibody levels in Australian blood plasma donors; a data analysis of invasive group A streptococcal laboratory specimens in HNELHD from 2008 to 2019; and a surveillance evaluation and epidemiological study of invasive meningococcal disease mortality in NSW from 2009 to 2018. (Primary Supervisor from October 2020)

Investigating vaccine preventable diseases and the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 Schools Study. Analysis of national measles notifications, hospitalisations, and deaths from 2012 to 2019. Analysis of two decades of national diphtheria notification, hospitalisation, and mortality data (1999-2019). Evaluation of the COVID-19 and Paediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome-Temporally Associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS) components of the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) system. (Primary Supervisor from October 2020)

Applied Epidemiology of Communicable Diseases

The projects include investigations of a COVID-19 outbreak commencing at a restaurant in southeast Queensland, a human salmonellosis outbreak associated with live backyard poultry in Australia, the establishment and evaluation of a SARS-CoV-2 test surveillance system used to identify SARS-CoV-2 resident testing in aged care facilities in Queensland, an analysis of site-specific chlamydia notifications in Queensland between 2000 to 2019, and an analysis to assess the effects of pneumococcal vaccination on invasive pneumococcal infection in Queensland between 2000 to 2020. (Primary Supervisor from October 2020)

PhD

Investigating mental health outcome and social functioning in ecstasy and methamphetamine users: analysis of a seven-year longitudinal study. School of Public Health, UQ. Associate Supervisor. One of the publications can be found here.

Honours

Injecting drug use opportunities and reasons for choosing not to inject: A population-based study of Australian young adults who use stimulants. School of Public Health, UQ. Associate Supervisor.